Shrink to 4113 ships! Greek fleet shrinks for the first time in 5 years

Source: Shipping Online

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Over the year, the number of vessels, deadweight tonnage?(DWT)?and gross tonnage controlled by Greek shipowners have?declined, the largest drop since 2008, as the shipowners began to renew their fleets.

According to statistics provided by the 36th annual survey of the London-based Greek Shipping Cooperation Council (GSCC), this reduction is a negligible change to the overall fleet controlled by Greek shipowners.

As of March 1, Greek interest?group?controlled 4,113 vessels of more than 1,000 tons, with a total DWT?of 350 million tons and a gross tonnage of 204.7 million tons. Compared to 2022, this is a decrease of 27 vessels and 5.38 million dwt, including 194 vessels ordered from shipyards, slightly less than 15.1 million dwt and 12.465 million gross tons. The fleet of Greek shipowners today is still 15.5 million dwt more than in 2018.

The shipowners’?fleet has a total of approximately 32 vessels registered under the Liberian and Marshall Islands flags. Over the year, the Liberian registry has gained 66 vessels, the Marshall Islands registry 57 vessels and the Panama registry?21 vessels. On the other hand, the flags of Malta, Singapore and Hong Kong?have?lost 98, 8 and 7 vessels respectively.

Overall, the Liberian and Marshall Islands flags are?flown on 1,080 and 1,066 Greek-owned vessels,?respectively. In terms of DWT, vessels under Liberia?flag?are?99.17 million dwt?(28.34%); vessels under the Marshall Islands are?84 million dwt?(24%); 560 vessels under the Maltese flag?are?51 million dwt?(14.56%); Panama has followed with 327 Greek vessels of 20.5 million dwt.

As for orders, 43 tankers, 3 chemical and product carriers, 64 liquefied gas carriers, 27 ore and bulk carriers and 54 container ships are currently on order for Greek shipowners. Notably, Greek companies account for 24.61% of the world’s tanker fleet, 15.81% of the ore and bulk carrier fleet and 10.45% of the LPG fleet.

In general, the Greek-owned fleet represents 6.7% of the world fleet in?the number of?vessels, 13.1% in gross tonnage and 15.4% in DWT. The Greek registered fleet as a percentage of the world fleet is 1%, 2.2% and 2.6% in terms of vessels, gross tonnage and DWT?respectively. However, it should be noted that the proportions for tankers are 6.3%, 6.7% and 6.8%, respectively.

GSCC said, “Due to the unstable situation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the associated challenges and opportunities, and the upcoming regulatory requirements for vessels, most categories of Greek-owned vessels have experienced minor volatility, despite of the volatile?market conditions.”

Particularly, for ore and bulk carriers and general cargo ships, the Greek fleet has increased as a percentage of the world fleet. With the exception of chemical and product carriers, and container ships, whose DWT increased slightly, the DWT of the remaining categories of ships decreased slightly or remained unchanged compared to the corresponding world fleet types in 2022.

The average age of the Greek owner-controlled fleet has slightly increased compared to the previous year, but is still below the world fleet average. As for?vessels, the average age of the Greek owner-controlled fleet is 12.6 years. As for?gross tonnage and DWT, it is 10.8 years and 10.9 years respectively, whereas?the years for the world fleet are both 11.3.?The average age of the Greek fleet increases slightly in terms of number of vessels, gross tons and DWT?with 16.1, 9.5 and 9.3 years respectively, compared to 14.2, 10 and 9.7 years in 2022.

Furthermore, all six major international classification societies serve the Greek fleet, with ClassNK serving the most vessels in?Greek fleet: 802 vessels (780 in 2022); ABS: 755 (808?in 2022); Lloyd’s Register: 744 (773 in 2022); BV: 719 vessels (712 in 2022); DNV: 592 (597 in 2022); RINA: 249 (237 in 2022);?RINA: 249 ships (237 ships in 2022).